Vampire Weekend to experiment with ‘broken down jazz’ on new album out in spring

Vampire Weekend say the new album will be ‘grittier’ than Contra (Picture: XL)

Vampire Weekend have announced that their third album, to be released this year, will be darker in tone and inspired by 50s jazz.

The as yet untitled release will follow 2008’s breakthrough self-titled album and 2010’s Contra.

It was recorded in New York and Los Angeles and co-produced by Ariel Rechtschaid, who has worked with artists such as Usher and Major Lazer.

Guitarist Rostam Batmanglij recently said that the band will be ditching their cheerful, upbeat sounds for something a little ‘darker’ and ‘grittier’ on the new record, telling Uncut: ‘The goal was to use organic sounds and put them in a context that you might not have heard before.

‘It’s certainly darker and grittier than Contra. A lot of these songs are about conflict. They’re about the choices we can make, being able to do what we want with our lives.’

He continued: ‘With Contra I was interested in a kind of arty, ’80s New York sound, but this album goes deeper. It gets into the ’50s and some of it sounds like jazz, but broken down into its most basic elements and played in a very simple way.

‘It’s more of a subtle kind of complexity and there’s an intimacy to the performances, both vocal and instrumental, that are very special. I think the sound of the piano is central to the record.’

Lead singer Ezra Koenig said that elements and characters from their first two albums will remain however, telling Q: ‘It really does feel like the third chapter in a book… We created some characters on the first record, some of which are real people, some of which are ourselves, so it’s not so hard to keep following them and see what their concerns are now and how their lives have changed.’

Songs confirmed for the new album include Don’t Lie, Hudson and Unbelievers, which the band performed on a Halloween edition of US chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live! last year.